Last Year we entered the team tournament with a Dwarf / Nature combination, where the Dwarfs were my Drunk Dwarfs from my WFB days, and Nature had Beer Elementals (water elementals), Hop Elementals (forest Shamblers) and drunk druids. That coupled with my display board that included a keg of cold, home brewed beer on tap. I think we had a decent shot at the best theme award, except we has almost no Mantic models in either army (the forest shambler conversions being the exception I believe).

So when we started talking about what to bring this year, we wanted to make sure we had 100% Mantic models. However in a fit of rebellion, we don't have a single Kings of War model in the army.

I have to give proper credit to my son, it was his idea. Using the Walking Dead miniatures for his undead - because they had so many zombie models. I was going to use Mars Attacks! minis - and finally decided on Night Stalkers (the other option was Goblins, but there ARE goblin models, while there aren't any Night Stalker models (thus giving me a little more freedom)).

So first are some shots of the display board.

Full Display board with army

back story (army lists are on back)

The armies met up at the corner of Kirkman and Renton

Empty display board - could be used for a game of The Walking Dead: All Out War

separated out so they can be used as regiments, hordes or legions. This one has walker Ronnie in the corner

This one has a guy in a Mantic splat shirt

troop for the back

and another

2nd legion - these are attacking Donna

again, it breaks down to regiments and troops - the Donna side

and the Liam side

from the back. The last two rows of the legion are empty, because the walkers are all crowing in to attack their victims.

The saviors were one of the few actual conversion units - as Jon wanted to have Dwight in it (since he is now so recognizable from the show. He used Derek's body and Ricks head (scarring it appropriately). He also replaced Patrick's baseball bat with the banner.

The survivors became the saviors - all in black jackets with wings painted on them.

of course Negan leads the group as a vampire w/ Mace of Crushing (to represent Lucille)

The governor was a revenant king (with war bow to represent his gun)

and I played the night stalkers. This was a fairly risky choice game play wise, as I playtested these before the Uncharted Empires book came out, and never managed to win a game with them. I like the monsters and heroes too much. At least with a team list the undead make up for the base troops this army lacks. These were less obvious, but I still tried to make it clear once you saw the list which units were wich

Grunts as spectres - because they were a shooting unit and the grunst all had guns

and a troop, with a martian zombie in the front

I wanted to take a quick second to take the blame for the banners. We wanted the units that had them (basically infantry) to all use the same banners to tie the armies together. I created these from a thin sheet of plasticard and a candle (to deform the flat card to simulate wind). I then hand painted the logo - which is supposed to be Mars with Lucille in front.

In my paint scoring sheet - it has a checkmark for 'freehand banners painted to an excellent standard'. While freehand, I do NOT feel these are an 'excellent standard'. I am thinking of revising the sheet to just 'freehand banners / other instances', without the judgement call as to the quality. Leave the quality to the final 4 subjective points

Horde of fiends

The fiends are some of the only actual conversions - I added Science Division troops to them as riders (using hot water to re-position the legs).

Shadow Hulk - aka Big Stompy Robot.

built with both close/combat arms

Void Lurker - a bit flying monster

Dread Fiend. Replaced Sidney Rose with general Zzar

When I was waiting for my new glasses (in about an hour) walking around the Dayton mall, I found a shop that makes custom t-shirts. We had already been looking at doing shirts as a team, and this was quicker than trying to mail order them.

We went in after Christmas and set things up to buy them later, but when I went back they couldn't find the design (and it frustrated the poor girl working there, because she remembered making the design with us a couple of months before.

It didn't take long to recreate it however, and we had a pair of matching shirts with Negan quotes on them.

t-shirt front - I really like how the martian head turned out

and back

Well the army was a big success. We actually went 3-1-0 in the tournament for second place (coming in behind Cory Reynolds and Chris Pelletier (Corey had 1000 pts of elves, every unit of which shot. Yeah stealthy wasn't enough to protect me there)).

We also too Best Themed Team Army, and it wasn't just due to having Mantic models - it was scored (and player voted) the highest out of all 15 teams.

No, we didn't have beer with the army. I'm not sure when/if I'll bring beer again - it simply takes up SO much room in the car (and this year we had 4 people in the car). We are already starting to talk and plan next years team army - but you'll have to wait for then to see what it will be next time.

Popular Posts

With the release of the
rules and starter lists for Kings of War 2nd Edition (if you
don’t have these – you can download them at
Mantic web site), as well as the release of
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, many people are looking to try Kings of War with
their existing Warhammer armies. This post will attempt
to describe the differences between the games.
The list may seem large, but in practicality it is quite an easy switch
from Warhammer 8th edition to Kings of War 2nd
edition. Plus there is nothing stopping
you from playing both games, or using your miniatures to play any games you
want. I will be posting more a tutorial
on how to play Kings of War later, this however is just the differences. First Kings of War is
NOT Warhammer Light. It is not based on
Warhammer. It was written by Alessio
Calvatore, who wrote Warhammer 7th edition and many Warhammer army
books. But Alessio also writes
historical war games, and the idea of ranked of units has been around since H G
Wells published “L…

At Gencon, I asked Ronnie Renton himself when the Historical supplement for Kings of War was coming out and he said next month.
This may not be the final cover, but for everyone that wants to field their Mongol Hordes or Spartans, the book will be out next month

Direct from Mantic

Releasing September 2016 (Shipping week of 26th)$39.99 MSRP Hardcover (will include rules and lists)With Kings of War Historical players can now enjoy their love of both Fantasy and Historical massed battle games! This supplement will allow for numerous armies from past ages to be played on the table top. From Samurai, Vikings and the armies of the Crusades, you can recreate your most loved periods in history!
Because it is all fun and games . . .

We've heard the rumors, we've seen the open day pictures and renders. We've been told that the studio models are being painted and we should have pictures of them soon.

But since when have we ever been content with waiting. Mighty Ape, an online retailer in Australia has pre-orders for the new Empire of Dust, which I believe is scheduled for release the end of July (remember that when Mantic gives a release date it is the date it BEGINS shipping, not when it hits retail stores)

I do want to also clarify that these are all pre-production images and lists - and they may be subject to change. The prices are my estimates - Mighty Ape has the australian prices - but those aren't in US $ and may be discounted (so I'm trying to guess at US MSRP). Also all of these come with bases for everything and mantic points, so I'm not listing those with each entry.

June sees some big releases from Mantic for Kings of War. When I say big, I mean BIG. Monstrous even.

First, in June the forces of the abyss are finally getting a model for the living legend Chroneas. Now a Chroneas is a monster, and while not unique, they are rare enough to never encounter more than one. Of course with Fireball 20, Piercing (1) and the special rule that it is NEVER disordered (i.e. the only way to stop it shooting at you is to kill it) they do seem to show up in almost everyone's list.
To help balance this out, the good armies see the release of the final dragon variant funded by the Kings of War 2nd Edition Kickstarter - the Basilean High Paladin.

The neutral players need a bit of loving as well - so the Forces of Nature (ok, the Brotherhood can take one as well) get the next Greater Elemental - water. (This leaves only the air elementa…

The new nameless faction is coming for Deadzone. You can currently pick up the faction starter and three of the leaders from your FLGS or the Mantic webstore.

So what do you get for the Nameless Deadzone faction starter? There are 12 plastic pre-assembled minis (these are the same as you get in the minion booster, and are also the same ones that are in the upcoming "Terror in the Deep" Star Saga expansion. However the deadzone starter also included six additional resin models.

So to start off are the scuttlers. Some of the weakest of the troops - these little crabs are your cheap options to fill out your troops.

Inkers are octopi that can create a smoke cloud once a game, and then again when they die.

The assassins are close combat troops

While the gunslingers are better at shooting

and when you need a bit more firepower, the riflemen back them up

Finally are the Ogres. Massive crabs ready to put the hurt on anything in the deadzone.

September Releases
Set for release in September (remember Mantic usually does their releases on the last Monday of the month).

Kings of War
Of course I'm going to start with Kings of War (if you wonder why - seriously, have you been reading much of this at all?)

MGKW10 - Kings of War Historical Armies $34.99.
No one is interested in this new Hardback rule supplement with 30 army lists ranging from ancient to around the 1500's (I think war of the roses is the most recent). Ok, seriously folks. Pre-order this NOW. I put up a little post a couple of weeks ago that wasn't much more than this picture and saying it was coming out - well that is now the #2 most view post in my blog with over 2500 views (my average is a few hundred).

Dungeon Saga
MGDS06 - Dungeon Saga: The Tyrant of Halpi - $49.99
If you want to see all the details about this what is coming in this expansion - just watch this space.

If you are like most gamers, you will someday find that you are out of room. Whether it is for the newest miniatures or board game, often physical space can get to be an issue. Even if you dedicate an entire room (or half your basement) to gaming, the number of games you have will ALWAYS increase to fill all available space.

Gamelyn Games was built to fill that very niche - with their Tiny Epic games. (OK, they have done one 'normal' size game). The Tiny Epic games are small boxes that easily can fit into your game shelf. But the games inside are anything but.

The latest in their lineup is Tiny Epic Zombies. I just received my kickstarter copy, and it is scheduled for general release in October, just in time for Halloween. Now there are a LOT of zombie themed games out there - but some of them are so overflowing with miniatures, boards and cards that you need a push cart just to carry everything (Zombicide being a great example, with more miniatures and expansions tha…

The fecal excrement is about to impact the rotational cooling device. And if you don't believe me, just look back at last year.

Yes, the new edition of the tournament 'recommendations' - Clash of Kings 2018 is coming. It has a release date set for January 22nd (Mantic seems to be moving to Monday releases instead of Fridays). This book promises to have the new narrative concluding this (or, by the time it comes out, last) years summer campaign, including the new map of Mantica, changed by the campaign. Of course this will be mostly ignored by most competitive players, as they will be turning immediately to see what changes have been made for the upcoming tournament season. New & changed units, spells and artefacts.
I can already hear the gnashing of teeth, the pulling of hair, and the clinching of sphincters as opinions explode across the internet. However since this was not able to be release in December as originally …